Morning journal and courier., 1887-03-18
THE STATE LEGIsLArURE.

THE STATE LEGISLATURE. , Important Matters Considered by th ! Lawmakers Yesterday-A Long De . bate on the Bill Creating a Ta1
 CommiSsIon-The Bil Passes thu , House, Hut Will Probably be Recon sidered-A Hearing on Methods o Heating and Lighting Railroad
 Cars-Many Inventors Show TheIl Devfces-Shall Half of the L1cens.
 Money Go Into the State Treasury Hearing on the Matter Before tho
 Committee on Temperance.
 HARTFORD, March F, 1887. | Special to the JOURNAL CoURIER.l | Business was rather brisk at the sessions
 to-day. There were few important com
 mittee hearings this afternoon. The House
 this morning held protracted session last 1 ing until half past one o'clock. The cause ! of which was discussion the bill ap-
 pointing tax commissioner, which was re- l ported favorably on by the finance commit l tee. After the longest and liveliest debate 1 this session the bill creating the commission passed by 8 vote of 97 to 94. It was amend | ed so as to make the office salaried one and | the appointment to be made biennially in
 stead of every four years. The matter will l undou btedly have to go through a reconsid- l eration tomorrow.
 The railroad committee gave field day | to the inventors of the various methods of l lighting and heating passenger cars. It | would seem that the committee cannot
 we'll recommend to the legis- l lature the adoption of any particular method, without creating trouble | Probably the committee will satisfy them l selves with determining whether there are | any practical methods, and reporting a bill
 compelling the railroads to adopt some one l of them early possible. There were ' ! parties present in the committees room when | the hearing began. MT. W. c. Baker, the l inventor of the Baker" heater, in which hot | water is circulated in pipes through the cars, was the first person heard. Alluding to the l use of the device for the past twenty years,
 he said that recently he had devoted his at | tention to heater which would cause no ! danger of fire in the cars in case of an acci- 1 dent. His heater burns about fourteen tons | of coal in year. ''The improved heater" I"
 he said, lis placed in 8 safe, the cost of the ! whole put in the cars being about $275. MT. J. B. Brody described the Smith & | Owen heater, which is made at Detroit | Experiments had proved very successful" :" said he. "It is fifteen inches in diameter
 and fourty-four inches in heighth. The ap paratus is so arranged that under violent l shock the supports break and the water is poured into the fire to put it out"
 l MT. Boardman, of Middletown, showed a I model of his heater, being substantially | stove encased in a grating and provided with l an iron receptacle intended to catch and hold | the coal in case the stove is upset.
 1 Mir. William Martin, of New York, appear | ed to explain the FMartin" heater. The heat ing is from the engine by low pressure steam,
 a reducing valve being used to obtain the 1 low pressure. A uniform temperature is provided drought all the cars. The work l ing pressure is the cars is about five pounds. The reducing valve is under the control of | &l,o1 ho5I | the Boston & Albany this winter. The cost l is about $200 car. When the engine is cut of, the steam is shut in the pipes, and will keep up the tempera- ture from half an hour to an hour MT. E. NJ. Reed, vice president of the Con-
 solidated road, favored the Martin system. It differed from the Henney system chiefly I in that it used live steam. The Henney plan of using exhaust steam was success. There was no question to it's ability to heat. The only question was as to the proper form of piping and regulating. Mir Reed then spoke of the system of electric lights in cars by
 storage batteries and said the time required 1 to charge this battery was about the same as the time for which it would furnish light. The plan seemed too costly at present. He supposed in the end cars could be lighted by electricity.
 Superintendent of motive power Henney of the Consolidated road describ ed briefly the tests that had been made. To Mr. Robbins he said that cars could be heated in half hour after connection with the engine. On the New York line there were boilers at most stations that could be made to do pre- lininary heating at very small cost. Mr. L. H. Williams, of Meriden, explained the w. o. Home device for using exhaust steam in heating. MT. A. w. Hall, of Meri- den, the inventor of many successful devices, appeared on the subject of lighting cars. He said the cost of lighting the cars on the Con solidated by electricity would be S330, 0,00o, almost as much ss their coal bill. He pro
 posed a device by which, under the present plan, the one lamp could be extinguished in case of accident It would cost only $2 a year for car as against SS50 for electric lights.
 Mr. Henry C. Robinson said the time musi come when cars would be lighted by elecrici ty. At the present time it was far too cost ly. Mir. L. L. Sawyer, of Meriden, wanted to see safe system of heating adopted. MT. F. D. Bense and J. T. Mcleod showed devil ces. MT. E. D. Robbins said he hoped the legislature would not make any regulations which would prevent the development of new inventions or require the use of any ap
 paratus that had not received such practical test as would make it's advantages certain. The hearing then closed.
 The bill regarding the distribution of li- cense money was given hearing before the temperance committee this afternoon. The
 
 rived from licenses for liquor be paid into the State treasury. The Hon. Lynde Harri- son appeared In favor. He made a very strong argument. He was followed by the Hon. Colin M. Ingersoll in opposition. Se lectman Browning, of Middletown, also op- posed it. The Rev. Elias Hillard and Bras tus Gee also favored. The selectmen of New Haven were present throughout the hearing It is not thought that the bill will be re- commended.
 There was an original and highly interest | ing bill before the committee on humane in stitutions this afternoon. It was drawn up l by E, D. Seymour, of Willimantic, keeper of the poor of that town. He was heard in it's 1 favor, and no one appeared in opposition. The bill provides that after the first of May, 1888, all persons who are supported by any town in this State shall be supported in an almshouse or other institution provided as herewith specified for such purpose; except that any town may furnish partial temporary support to the members of any family act ually living therein, and that for the better carrying into effect of the above req equirements this State shall be divided into thirty three districts to be des
 ignated almshonse districts. Each of these districts shall before the first of April, 1888, provide an almshouse to be located at some convenient point in said district of sufficient capacity to provide accommodations for all persons liable to be supported by the several towns composing 1t. The different boards ot selectmen shall elect from their several bod ies an executive board which shall have the general supervision of the almshouse in their district. The expense of maintaining an almsbouse in district shall be borne equal ly by the towns composing the district. The bill does not affect the large towns or cities in the State The bill meets with much fa- vor and it is thought if passed in an amend ed form it would meet long felt want.
 Representative Kendrick of Wallingford advocated his bill relating to the prohibiting of members of the General Assembly accept ing passes from the railroad companies be- fore the committee on judiciary. He talked on general principles. Representative
 Wallace of Wallingford made a rousing speech in the bills favor. -
 E. D. Robbins, an attorney for the New
 York & New England railroad, appeared be- fore the committee on railroads in behalf of the road, which under the bill providing for the abolition of grade crossings according to the dividends paid would have to do away with many at a great cost MT. Robbins ex- plained that the New England has S2, 000,00